Wednesday, January 24, 2007

I didn't feel that it was fair to brag about Cara without shinning the light on Caitlin as well. She is 3 1/2 years old now, which she asks me just about every day--"What number am I Momma?" Just about every day, am I amazed at the things that she says or does, she is such of a sponge and a puppet. I have to be really careful what I say or I'll find Ms. Caitie repeating it. Like one time, I called Winston, the family Golden Retriever, a blonde idiot and wouldn't you know, I heard Caitlin call a dog at the park that same thing! Whoops, I need a sensor on my mouth! The cutest things come out of her mouth too...the other day, I was nursing Cara, who has discovered that she can bite Momma, and she decided to attempt to take a nibble. I yelped out in pain and unlatched Cara. Caitlin, seeing my distress said, "Breathe Momma!" Do I have a future labor coach or therapist in the making? I was laughing so hard that I forgot about the pain that I was in. I swear that I don't know where she learns these things from.Also, Caitlin has been starting to say things in Spanish lately, thanks to Dora the Explorer and Diego (and yes, the Dora Kitchen). She can count to ten and does so without thinking a lot when she's counting up stuff while playing; and uses many phrases in the course of a conversation. I even heard her talking to her Little People doll house characters the other day, in partial Spanish. It's pretty bad when your 3 year old knows more Spanish than you do. I had to find a website to translate some English words into Spanish when Caitlin would ask what such and such was in Spanish. Thankfully, I came across this site that not only finds the correct word for you, but sounds it out (http://www.spanishdict.com/). I need that since phonics are not one of my strong points. I'm thinking that Muzzie might be a good birthday gift idea for her. Who knows, maybe I'll pick it up too...goodness knows it will come in handy out here where we have a large hispanic population.We are working on letter recognition and have found it to be a lot of fun to make letters out of PlayDough and identifying each of alphabet letters that we have on the fridge. I think, I'm going to take Lauren's idea and make flash cards for her--that will be a test of my artistic ability because I want to draw a picture on one side that starts with that letter and the letter on the other side. I'll probably chicken out and use clip art! She did get two alphabet games for her Leap Pad for Christmas, so she has learned a lot because of those too. I have noticed a great change in Caitie's drawings as of late. The little artist in her is blossoming. She is drawing faces that are atomically correct and other pictures with things in them that I can usually identify. When she colors, she is also staying within the lines most of the time and coloring things a more realistic color...green for grass, yellow for a sun, etc. I love to watch her be so artistic and creative.Her pretend play has also become more grown up too. She roll-plays with her doll house characters, plays "What's cooking?" with her Dora Kitchen and loves to make houses and forts for her stuffed animals. She has also recently taken to puzzles, effortlessly putting together 25 piece puzzles. Somewhere, there is a little brain working away.I just delight in seeing these "big girl" changes in her though I find it hard to believe that she will be FOUR this summer!

Thursday, January 18, 2007

Cara had her 6 month well baby check up yesterday. While we were there, Cara was totally charming everyone from the doctors to nurses and other mothers--with her head of dark hair and her babble and kicks. She was very good throughout the entire appointment and barely cried when given her shots. All in all, her doctor was impressed with her progress especially since we were just ther about a month and a half ago for her 4 month check up. Cara is almost sitting up on her own, without support, babbles almost non-stop for hours at a time (there will never be peace in my household!) and is oh so close to rolling over. We have started real solid foods though she hasn't taken a liking to any thing other than nursing. We are also trying to work on transitioning her to a bottle and formula, which isn't going well. Not that I can blame her, there is a big taste difference. She just has to get used to it though, so that I can safely leave her with a sitter knowing that she will not starve herself.Cara's personality has really emerged lately and no longer is she an inactive baby. She is just so sweet and social. One of the things that she does that I just find so adorable is if I put my face close to hers, she will take both of her hands, reach up and grab the sides of my face and pull me down towards her and slobber on me--baby kisses. She also loves to play with her favorite things being her exersaucer and play gym. She loves to "twirl" around on the exersaucer, playing with all of the different toys. She has learned how to manipulate them so that she can chew on them, funny to watch! With her play gym, she has mastered the scoot & roll technique and can move all over the mat, playing with all of the toys and harassing the heck out of the flying birdie in the middle. It's nothing short of a miracle that the poor bird still has its head and wings. She usually strikes up a conversation with the toys while she's playing too. Mostly, she is a very content baby. Lately, we've had some fussy days due in part to teething. Two pearly white teeth really stand out in her little mouth and by the way that she drools and chews on everything, I'd say more are coming.From her doctor's visit, we came away with only one concern and that is to get Cara rolling over with ease soon. I guess she is lagging behind just a bit since most kids are rolling over by about 4-5 months. Her doctor is not overly concerned though since babies are put to sleep on their backs, tummy time is not a popular thing with them...especially babies like Cara, who have big heads. She is in the 99% for head size. So, more time on her tummy every day, as much as she'll tolerate was the Rx given to me. Wouldn't you know, that night, she rolled over! Sure, it's not a habit yet, but we're heading down the right path. This past weekend, we went to the Children's Museum of Denver while visiting Ben, and Cara played in the infant pond and rolled over again, in both directions. I'm so not worried...she'll do it when she's ready. I guess that's a common trend with 2nd children. The first, we freak out if they don't do things right on time and with the 2nd, we want them to take their time!One more note, Cara is to have her ultrasound on the 30th to check on her sacral dimple. She was born with one, just like Caitlin. Again, no real concern because she moves and kicks her legs too well, but, just the same, I can't help but be nervous. I will keep you all posted on that.I guess that's it for my update on Cara. I am so extremely proud of her and how much she has grown and changed lately. I am so blessed to be home and able to see this first-hand.

Sunday, January 14, 2007

I just thought I would report that we got MORE SNOW last night & a little bit today. I've stopped adding up all of the white stuff that we've gotten this year. I just know that it is a lot...more than we've seen in the course of a winter in about 12 years! I saw an article in our paper about a lady in Loveland, CO who sold snowballs to a guy in CT for $200 so that his daughters could have a little bit of a white Christmas. She had tons of snow to spare since Loveland got hit during the blizzard of 2006 with over two feet of snow. I remember, during some brown (and a few green) Christmases in Michigan, wishing that my parents could buy snow...I guess it's true, you CAN buy anything on Ebay! Now, this poor woman has got to figure out how to ship the snow without melting it--two words for her-dry ice. Anyway, we got about 3 inches here and some bitter winds. I was out pumping gas (a moderate $2.39/gallon for 87 Premium) with my hood up and my ears will still REALLY cold by the time I got back in the car. No playing out in the snow for the next few days. I think the highs are only supposed to be about 20F. Truthfully, I'm getting a little sick of having to deal with the snow (bundling kids up, trekking thru it, etc), so if anyone wants to make me an offer, I might be willing to sell all the snow in town!

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Time seems to have gotten away from me lately so I thought I would update everyone on what's been happening here...

~I had another job interview with the county health & human services department last week. I interviewed for two social work positions. I saw the ad in the newspaper and thought, maybe, it was time to put my sociology degree to work. The first was for a child welfare case manager. When I first graduated and moved to MI, this is the kind of work that I interviewed for there and didn't want to do. Thankfully, this isn't Metro Detroit...there is no police weapon-carrying training or a high crime rate. Still, I would have to testify in court, possibly remove children from their parents and other unpleasant tasks. In addition to the case load demand, I'd also be on call 24/7 M-F and rotating weekends. Not good for someone with two young kids. So, I don't think that's a feasible job for me. I also had a chance to interview for a 32 hour/week position as a coordinator for the teen pregnancy prevention program. Now this, it sounds like, would be right up my alley. I was really intrigued by the prevention program in high school and college (did some volunteer stuff here & there) and pictured myself doing something related to that cause when I graduated. I told my interview panel that I thought that this program would be a good match for me. I would be teaching classes on pregnancy prevention, self esteem and things like that in addition to one-on-one mentoring. I think I interviewed well and am now just waiting to hear back.

~Cara visited a pediatric optamologist yesterday due to my concern that she appeared to go cross-eyed a lot. She had a vision exam and a refraction test where they dilated her pupils. She was such of a trooper through the whole thing, even letting me briefly put on the little sunglasses to protect her eyes from bright light. Her doctor was awesome, had a whole bag of tricks to get babies to pay attention to her...a monkey banging drums on a the end of a stick that she kept in her mouth, a Pooh light, etc. After all was said and done, Cara was pronounced a normal, healthy baby who has a wide bridge on her nose which makes it appear that she's cross-eyed because we can't see as much "white" in her eyes. I let out a big sigh of relief...another hurdle jumped or avoided all together.

~Cara now has two teeth. The bottom left tooth (front) came in days after the one next to it. What can I say except that she drools a lot and Baby Orajel has become our best friend! She has a lot of fussy days when sometimes, only crying herself to sleep seems to work. This too, shall pass, I keep reminding myself.

~Caitlin has developed a total obsession for dancing, especially ballet and Angelina Ballerina. It is so cute to watch her dance around, twirling, doing splits and jumps. As soon as finances allow, I'd love to get her enrolled in a tumbling/beginning dance class. She seems to be a natural. If I knew how, I'd post a little video that I took of her dancing in the kitchen.

~I have made a few minor changes to the blog. I have added a counter on the left-hand menu below the Flickr icon. If you're curious to see how many people, besides you, might visit my site, take a look. I've also added birthday countdowns for both Caitlin & Cara, just for fun. Oh, and there are new pictures on the Flickr account...

Friday, January 05, 2007

Good news everyone! Ben got the preliminary results back from his biopsy yesterday and it showed no signs of cancer! Praise be! I was so happy when he told me that I weeped afterwards. It was just a benign cyst, which is what I was praying for. Now, I can rest assured that I'm going to have one of my best friends around, healthy, for a good long while!

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About Me

I'm currently picking up the pieces of my so-called life and building a better future for myself and my two daughters. I am a single mom who is trying to juggle the demands of working outside of the home with the circus acts of parenthood. On a good day, I am a: mom, daughter, sister, friend, coach, counselor, event planner, secretary, taxi driver, nurse, emergency manager, short order cook, teacher, tutor, volunteer, playmate, human jungle gym...you get the idea.